That poor kid. I wonder if the mother was threatened with having someone call social services on her or something, and that's why she backed off.

And oh Weeble it wasn't just my dad, it was my mother mostly who pointed out where I was getting chubby, criticized friends who had "let themselves go" or male friends they knew in college who married beautiful women who "let themselves go" after they had "snagged a man." She used to tease one of her little sisters for being chubby and then when the middle sister went on WW and got lost weight, they both turned on the baby sister, trying to improve her and I don't know what she said but it was often some form of "get lost" Last I heard from my aunt, (and godmother) she barely speaks to either of her two older sisters and I don't blame her.

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

It took time to get DH to order appetizers and desserts in a restaurant. His parents never order appetizers, ever. Apparently no one could be hungry enough for an appetizer and a meal. His Dad usually just has ice cream for dessert and unless it's a pretty unusual flavor that the restaurant makes themselves he also doesn't order dessert out. I'm still not comfortable ordering extras when we're out with them.

My parents never ordered appetizers or dessert when we went out either. I'd never really thought about it until now, actually. I have a dim memory of asking what an appetizer was when I was a kid and hearing my mother say, after she explained the concept, that she couldn't imagine anyone eating an appetizer and a meal.

My parents were not food controllers at all, though. That's just the way they ate and I think it might have something to do with when they grew up (during the Depression). I ended up with major food issues (anorexia) but I truly, honestly don't see them as the source. And at almost 49 years old, I've still never ordered an appetizer!

Perhaps when the food dictators have universally triumphed, their next front to tackle will indeed be the sleeping one...

They've already started.

I'm a night person. I've always been a night person. I don't want to be anything OTHER than a night person. Do not wake me in the morning and think I'm going to be chipper and alert. It's not going to happen.

Yet I am told, repeatedly, that I MUST become a morning person and that staying up late is my greatest sin of all and that I'm so wrong for not conforming to the "get up and shine" morning person routine.

I have a coworker who's at work by 7:00. Yes, he gets to leave at 4:00. And I'm still there. BUT, I slept a little later in the morning. Plus, I'm at work at a time that helps those employees we have in other time zones; I was able to train someone in the Phillipines because I was still around when it was morning his time.

Seriously. Give it a break. Get your own dang self up at any time you please. But leave me alone.

As a fellow night owl, I hear ya!

But at the same time, I finally (mostly) conquered an insomnia issue that's plagued me my whole life.[1] It turns out that if I constrain myself tightly to a schedule (bed by midnight), my body grows adjusted to it. It had *never* done that before. For the past month, I have had ONE bout of 6Am insomnia... because I stayed up voluntarily to 1:30AM.

[1] To give you an idea how bad, when I was a teenager, I once couldn't sleep for an entire week. And I mean a literal 7-day 168-hour week where I didn't even nap. After day three, the hallucinations were interesting. After day five, they were pretty much gone. After day seven, I finally dropped off and slept for 24 straight hours.

Yikes, Diane, did you ever figure out what caused such a prolonged bout of insomnia?

I did not, actually... although it happened about a month after I discovered internet chat rooms, so the sudden "I can socialize at all hours and never leave the house" revelation may have something to do with it. I also never experienced anything that severe ever again. I once nearly went 72 hours, but that was me being a stupid teen/young adult (at 19, staying up for three days seems like a good idea for some stupid reason).

My husband and I will often split an appetizer and a main dish if we want a little of each. My best friend and I will also split dishes. I do think that restaurant portions in America are gigantic to the point where it's ridiculous. But I never pay attention to what other people order/eat. Their food, their bodies, not my business.

My mom can get pretty sanctimonious about ordering an appetizer as her main dish or getting just a salad. But she never tells me what to eat, so I just ignore her.

Perhaps when the food dictators have universally triumphed, their next front to tackle will indeed be the sleeping one...

They've already started.

I'm a night person. I've always been a night person. I don't want to be anything OTHER than a night person. Do not wake me in the morning and think I'm going to be chipper and alert. It's not going to happen.

Yet I am told, repeatedly, that I MUST become a morning person and that staying up late is my greatest sin of all and that I'm so wrong for not conforming to the "get up and shine" morning person routine.

I have a coworker who's at work by 7:00. Yes, he gets to leave at 4:00. And I'm still there. BUT, I slept a little later in the morning. Plus, I'm at work at a time that helps those employees we have in other time zones; I was able to train someone in the Phillipines because I was still around when it was morning his time.

Seriously. Give it a break. Get your own dang self up at any time you please. But leave me alone.

As a fellow night owl, I hear ya!

But at the same time, I finally (mostly) conquered an insomnia issue that's plagued me my whole life.[1] It turns out that if I constrain myself tightly to a schedule (bed by midnight), my body grows adjusted to it. It had *never* done that before. For the past month, I have had ONE bout of 6Am insomnia... because I stayed up voluntarily to 1:30AM.

[1] To give you an idea how bad, when I was a teenager, I once couldn't sleep for an entire week. And I mean a literal 7-day 168-hour week where I didn't even nap. After day three, the hallucinations were interesting. After day five, they were pretty much gone. After day seven, I finally dropped off and slept for 24 straight hours.

Man, I thought I was bad!

If I really need to, I can adjust my sleep schedule - it usually takes a few sleep-deprived days or medicated nights, but I can do it. I am never - or rarely - really at my best in the morning, though.

For a couple of years, I worked in an office (on the US East Coast) that ended up contractually obligated to have someone on hand to provide phone/email support to folks on the West Coast (3 hours behind us) until 5:30 pm their time - so until 8:30 our time. We started off cycling through different people taking the late shift each night, but everyone else hated it. Also, we had a task that had to be done for our client at about 5pm every day, and for some reason the client rep really liked me (he was fine with everyone else, but really liked me best). Since I was a night owl anyway, I didn't mind staying late, I finally just suggested that I just work the skewed shift every day, leaving everyone else to their preferred 9-to-5 routine.

My boss could NOT figure out why I liked that shift so much, until I went on vacation for a week and he was covering the late shift. He lived almost an hour from the office, so would normally have to get up quite early to get in. That week, he could sleep in, miss the worst of the traffic, go out for drinks with his friends after work, and still be well rested when he got in the next day. After that, he understood.

My current bosses like that I'm a night owl - need someone to stay late, or come in at some weird hour of the evening? No problem, Jedi will do it!

OK, back to your regularly scheduled diversion...

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What part of v_e = \sqrt{\frac{2GM}{r}} don't you understand? It's only rocket science!

"The problem with re-examining your brilliant ideas is that more often than not, you discover they are the intellectual equivalent of saying, 'Hold my beer and watch this!'" - Cindy Couture

My BFF is a bit of a fad dieter, and doesn't tend to have much success with any of them.

I finally had a revelation about diet and health early last year that has resulted in me losing weight very slowly, but actually keeping it off. I don't restrict myself with any kind of food.

One day we went to lunch and I decided to get chips and guac for an appetizer. She made a comment along the lines of "you know that's just going to fill you up and you'll regret eating it".

My response was "Comments like that is what will result in us never eating out together again".

She apologized, and never did it again.

I have zero tolerance for that sort of malarkey.

Me either. Even if I've been eating "healthy" for quite a while and decide to splurge on something perhaps not so healthy, its nobody's business but my own. My cousin does that, and she is also the queen of quick fixes and fad diets. Even at age 50, I don't think she's quite grasped the concept of what it takes to lose weight and keep it off